The Lincoln Project

Trump promised to restore law and order. Instead, critics argue he’s turned the Department of Justice into a weapon of political revenge, selective accountability, and loyalty tests. This week, Rick Wilson is joined by Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project and author of When Companies Run the Courts, to unpack the growing concerns surrounding Trump’s DOJ—from politically motivated prosecutions and controversial pardons to the lingering questions around the Epstein files and the effort to rewrite the history of January 6th. Rick and Brendan also expose how forced arbitration has quietly tilted the legal system in favor of powerful corporations, creating a parallel justice system where the rich and connected play by different rules. If Americans can be convinced to forget an insurrection, what else can they be convinced to overlook? It’s a conversation about power, corruption, accountability, and the dangerous idea that justice is only for the people on the right side of power.•••••You can find Brendan Ballou on X, @brendanballou, or at his website https://plunderthebook.com. His newest book, ‘When Companies Run the Courts: Forced Arbitration and America’s Secret Justice System,’ is available now, wherever fine books are sold. Visit https://publicintegrityproject.org to find more information about the Public Integrity Project.

RFK Jr. let a worm crawl into his brain and eat part of it, dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park, sawed the head off a whale and bungeed it to his car — and somehow still talked his way into running America's health agencies. This week, Rick Wilson and investigative journalist Isabel Vincent -- who has a new book out called RFK Jr.: The Rise and Fall -- trace the full deranged arc, from Camelot golden boy to anti-vax crusader to MAHA messiah and the strange circumstances surrounding the death of his late second wife, Mary Richardson-Kennedy, digging into the brain worm, the roadkill résumé, the war on science, and what it means to hand the nation's health to a man whose own brain came with a parasite. And in a twist no writer would dare invent, the flesh-eating New World screwworm is creeping back toward the U.S. on his watch — proof that the man with a worm in his brain now can't keep the worms out of the country either. It's the Kennedy curse — except this time it's just him.•••••Follow Rick Wilson at @TheRickWilson on X and @therickwilson.bsky.social on Bluesky, and subscribe to his Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. Purchase Isabel Vincent's fabulous new book, RFK Jr.: The Rise and Fall anywhere fine books are sold, and follow her @byisabelvincent on her socials. Join the fight with the Lincoln Project at www.lincolnproject.us and follow LP on X at @ProjectLincoln. If you'd like to help us continue our critical work, visit https://action.lincolnproject.us/helplp to make a difference.